Notes from a small island

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Vampires and Werewolves

I see that the site Politics.bm, despite its announcement a few weeks ago that it was ceasing operation is, on the contrary, back at it. In truth, I’m not all suprises at this development. I find that once you’ve been bitten by the bug of political activism, as much as it can bring you down from time to time, you really can’t avoid it after. Its in his blood now. I look forward to engaging his posts critically shortly.

At least I can say he no longer has a right to ridicule the famous ‘we had to decieve you’ line after apparently doing the same! [Saying that tongue in cheek]

For a while now I’ve had this image of our political system as one being dominated by vampires and werewolves. I see the UBP largely as representative of the vampires. They are the old blood and can only survive by constantly bringing in new blood, feeding of this new blood. They are largely parasites. I have increasingly come to see the PLP as werewolves. On the one hand they are organically connected to the grassroots working class, but the full moon of political power seems to transform them similarly into parasites. They are divided, schizoid almost, torn between their two realities, of peasant and wolf. One foot in the working class, the other a new ruling elite. The battle of course is far from decided, which reality will win out.

These are rather provocative and image laden terms for sure. I’m not saying they are necessarily the best descriptive ones, but somehow I think alot of people will also share some of this perception of mine. i’m also sure that I’ll got a lot of flack for them.

They are just musings, images that have formed in my head as I try to sit back and look at the transformation within the Party of progressive labour over its history, as I look at the role of the UBP over its history.

I’m not too concerned about the vampires. They are dying their slow and painful death and their access to new blood is evaporating – although the mistakes of the werewolves may increase the potential supply for them over time. On shouldn’t be suprised that a new generation coming of political age without recalling the past UBP governments will ‘give them a chance’ at some time in the future. But the complete ineffectiveness of the Party to date certainly isn’t a very attractive option for this generation at the moment who are more likely to form a new Party altogether and leave the vampires to sleep int heir catacomb of irrelevancy.

I’m much more interested in the dynamic inherent to the concept of the werewolf, the struggle between the historic division of the Party between working class and professional (Black upper class) with their respective interests, united only in their common opposition to the vampires.

Anyway, just musings from a cold and wet city far away after walking through stores preparing for Halloween.

Not surprising to me Jonathan.
I knew that once DUnleavy said he was finished with politics.bm that he would resurface as a columnist for some newsgroup, and here we have him in the RG two consecutive weeks as a guest columnist. I knew that someone with the rage that he possesses wouldnt be able to sit idly on his hands.

He might be enraged, Ken, but that doesn’t make him wrong. Take his latest column. It’s true, isn’t it, that the PLP ran exactly the same “negative, heavily-coded, but thinly-veiled, campaign of raw and naked racism” against the UBP that Julian Hall is now criticising McCain for running against Obama?

I dont agree Philip.
Many PLP commercials and ads were positive, highlighting the achievements of the Party. Yes there was a negative element to the campaign as well, but that was from both sides.
What about the Independence group, which we all know was an offshoot of the UBP that ran ads saying that if you elect the PLP they will make us independent. Those ads mysteriously disappeared after December 17.

At the tax payer funded PLP rally at the weekend (thank god the National Stadium is finally being used for its proper purpose)I heard a couple of mentions of it but by then I was, like most around me, to drunk to care….

– PLP candidate (now MP) Lovitta Foggo said blacks voting for the UBP were voting themselves back onto the plantation.
– The PLP suggested that Michael Dunkley would bring back hanging and flogging if elected.
– The PLP said the UBP wanted to give voting rights to up to 8000 residents, when the Government’s own figures suggested it would likely be less than half that number.
– The PLP suggested that the UBP would fire thousands of Bermudian civil servants.
– etc.

And all you can point to is some ads run by UBP supporters? How about some examples of negative or racial statements made by the UBP itself?

The PLP said the UBP wanted to give voting rights to up to 8000 residents, when the Government’s own figures suggested it would likely be less than half that number.

Of course the PLP ads conveniently ignored the fact that, if Bermuda were to become independent, everyone that the UBP wanted to give status to would become citizens as well as a significant number of other people that the UBP never suggested should be given the vote.

Maybe – but the PLP was not making independence an issue in the election, it was not in the platform, and while it may remain one of the long term goals of the Party it is still not an immediate issue. I am aware that it was recently mentioned again at the memorial function for Lois Browne-Evans, but I think those that read into that any change towards an aggressive relaunch of this issue are sadly mistaken. I cannot envision it becoming a real issue again until about 2012 at the latest. I personally am of the opinion that we will be independent by 2020, but thats just me. Point is, it was not an issue in the 2007 election.